The stranger was a ghost Essay Example for Free

The stranger was a ghost Essay It was in the summer season I was on my way home for a holiday. I had really longed to be at home especially during this period as it is also the time I celebrate my birthday. I needed to pass by the supermarket and do some shopping since I had planned of having my birthday party indoors with my friends. The big day being only two days away then meant that I needed to do some shopping instead of having to run for some items during the last minute. As I parked my car outside the supermarket and quickly reached out for my ‘to buy list ’I noticed a very pretty lady standing by the telephone booth. But just as I came out I lost interest in her since I was sure that her face didn’t look any familiar. I went ahead to the supermarket and there did most of my shopping, which took quite some time, approximately 2hours. I went to the counter and paid and pushed the carrier to the car, suddenly I realized that I had misplaced my key to the car door, looked in my shopping bags, nothing! Inside my jeans pockets but lo! I was then sure of one thing, that my key must be lying some where in the shelves of the supermarket where I must have placed them as I read the prices and probably compared what quantities of items to buy. Any one would have forgiven me as I was a bit confused with the huge shopping something that I was not used to. I made to the supermarkets but as I entered I saw the same lady again, this time I noticed that she actually looked at me as if ready to say hey but I was in much haste of which she must have noticed. I went right in the supermarket and started going from one shelf to another; appeared like I was doing a double task because I literally went to all the shelves I had earlier picked items from. The key was right on the last shelf what a pity? Had I thought of doing the rounds but on a reverse I would have saved a lot of time! The lady made a point of stopping me on my way out, she called me â€Å"Paul is it you†? I turned to her and said no am sorry but my name is Peter. But were you at Braubern High School? I told her yes that is where I went for my high school education and had a friend by the name Paul and people mistook us for another so this wasn’t so unusual. So I was kind to her and told her that I was abit in a hurry and so needed to go. She was reluctant but said if I didn’t mind for her to give me her mobile phone contacts so that incase I met Paul I would give it to him. I reached out for my phone and apologized to her that my day had been hectic as I had even misplaced the key to my car. She told me that she had noticed that I had lost peace when she saw me running back to the supermarket. I reached for my phone and she gave me her contacts and when she gave her name as Tracy I gave her a second look since that was the name of my first girlfriend. A girl I had met at a theatre in college and we had talked for so long on the first night that by the time we were actually parting ways to go back to our school vans we felt like we had known each other half our lives! One thing I was sure about was that this is not her at least not my Tracy. Whatever had happened between me and Tracy was sort of a mystery because after seeing each other for quite sometime during vacation, had fallen for one another intimately and had known that for sure we were meant to be together and that we were to do anything within our powers to make it happen. The last time I had seen Tracy was at the beach and coincidentally it was also the best time together. But she had disappeared from me in a mysterious way, a way that I can’t describe as she felt me taking a drink at the beach and she had told me she needed to sand bath, something I never enjoyed doing but she had told me that she would be back in a while. That is the last I saw her. I made reports about that and even the search of her in the waters became fruitless. I had only known that she lived alone and was actually an immigrant so efforts to track her family were frustrated especially because after her education she had moved to another state. Anyway all this I remembered after this lady gave her name as Tracy and inside I was burning with an interest of knowing her more, knowing if she had anything to do with my girlfriend. I quickly told her that I would be calling her later and she was like that is very okay and indeed she was looking forward to communicating with me later. I gave my phone contact too. As I drove home that evening I kept remembering all the good things that had happened between me and the initial Tracy, the way we had loved each other, the promises we had promised each other, the respect and all that, and I felt I missed her, missed her hugely! A cold chill ran through my backbone for I could not avoid remembering that she had disappeared mysteriously. Perhaps she had left me through this way intentionally or may be it was as a result of not loving me as she had appeared to. Could it have been a way of hurting me? I had promised to take my time before committing to another girl but sincerely speaking I knew I would not mind having this second Tracy as a close friend, perhaps to help me forget of my past love life. My night was full of this lady! The following day I made up my mind and called her, I was not going to suffer in silence anymore, I asked her if I could met her for an hour as we have a drink over our talks and she told me she could only get available in the evening, this didn’t exactly suit my agenda since I needed to be home the whole evening and doing preparations for the following day but I all the same said that was okay to see her then. I was so anxious, seeing like time was on a stand still, like the clock had stopped ticking. I was not sure if it was okay to tell her the old story of the other lady, or to first give her time and observe her character, I was only sure of one thing: that I needed to be with her, at least even if it was for an hour! Time came and we had sat and made our orders that I kept stealing glances at her not to appear rude if I stared, I told her about my following day agendas and infact invited her also to the party. One thing led to another and we had stayed out late, when I asked her if she could come with me for the preparations she didn’t hesitate but said as long she could get a taxi from my place to her home in the late hours after helping. Tracy was so helpful she did most of what was worrying me and In a short while, then I asked if it would be okay if I let her sleep in the guest room and maybe leave in the morning to return later for the party. She must have also liked me as she said no problem, that whole evening she made me feel important, a man†¦..wanted and loved, there are the moments in my life I hoped that would last forever. We kissed and hugged tons! Finally I showed her where to rest for the night and I closed the main door and went to my room to rest also. I was up early the following day and after I made breakfast, I made it to the room where she was supposedly asleep and tried calling her name but Lo! There was no one there! Absolutely no one! Why had this happened to me again? Why had I gone all the way with a stranger? How had she made her way out? I had had the key to the main door all the night. Why was this spirit following me? For at this moment I had no doubts that this was a ghost even of the same first Tracy. My day was completely spoilt, when my friends arrived later in the day they had to make food for themselves for I had not done a thing, I was even scared and stayed out at the verandah all the day thinking that if I went inside the house the ghost would haunt me, believing It was still within. My friends then moved me to another apartment and I sworn to myself never again, Strangers not me!

The Death Penalty and the Extradition of Terrorists :: Essays Papers

The Death Penalty and the Extradition of Terrorists Should terrorists be extradited to face capital punishment in the country a crime was perpetrated in? This question has been frequently repeated, especially after the events of September eleventh. Everyone seems to have a different opinion as to whether or not the death penalty is a viable punishment. There are also exhaustive discussions regarding who should judge the proceedings. I believe that if an offender commits a crime in a foreign land, and is apprehended, then they should be charged in and be subject to the laws of that country. If it is expected that we respect the customs of a particular country, why should abiding by the laws be any different? The events of September eleventh 2001 became an excellent example of the conflicted opinions that the countries from which the offenders came from had. The hijackers who commandeered the planes were from a different country with very different rules and mores. When these hijackers decided to fly into the World Trade Centers and The Pentagon and potentially kill thousands of people, it would be understood that had they survived, they would be tried on American soil under American laws. Logically, the co-conspirators of the attacks as well as the heads of the organizations which supported them should be subjected to the same responses. In the article titled â€Å"Ashcroft soothes Europe’s Death Penalty Objections,† Lofti Raissi and Zacarias Moussaoui discuss other countries concerns as to whether or not their citizens will face the death penalty. Reporters asked Ashcroft whether he was willing to give a guarantee that terrorist suspects who were extradited to the U.S. would not face capital punishment, but he concluded that it is a case-by-case decision. The article further states that European countries have abolished the death penalty and will not extradite suspects who face the death penalty in another country (Johnson 1). I believe it is every country’s right to vote and draft a law deciding whether of not it should allow the death penalty, but if one decides that they are going to commit a crime in a country which allows the death penalty, they should recognize that they must face the consequences. Two foreigners who are going through similar proceedings are described in the article. They are Zacarias Moussaoui and Lotfi Raissi. Zacarias is a French citizen who was arrested in the United States and was the first person charged for involvement in the nine-eleven attacks (Johnson 1).

Spoiled, but Not a Brat

Diquan Lamar Hubbard Introduction to College Writing Professor Sophie Bradford October 19, 2012 Spoiled, but not a Brat The ideal spoiled child does not come to mind easily. I observed people around campus, but I think one of the perfect examples of a spoiled child is Angelica Pickles from the popular Nickelodeon show Rugrats. Angelica showed characteristics that made her stand out as an antagonist. She would refer to the other characters as â€Å"dumb babies. † Angelica would show how selfish she was by convincing the other characters to do plans that would only benefit her, which set her up most of the time as the antagonist in each episode.She would receive gifts to her heart’s desire and not be the least bit thankful. Her parents set out to please her in every way that they could, but it never seemed like it was enough. What makes a child in the real world like this? How have these bratty tendencies in childhood showed up later in life? A better way to explain this is to look deeper into what characteristics a brat actually has. Some people would look at a person as a brat because they get expensive things from their parents. Getting nice things may not have been seen as out of the ordinary to some spoiled children.Davis shares how she saw life at a younger age: Growing up, I was oblivious to money and the division of classes like many young kids. I never knew not every kid was presented with new clothes every day, or got to go to Toys-R-Us whenever they wanted or had to take educate classes once a week. I thought that was a normal everyday thing in the life of a kid. That was what kids my age did. (Davis 1) I think that receiving things and having a well off lifestyle does not mean that a person is spoiled. I think it is there sense of entitlement afterwards.Davis admitted that she was oblivious to other people and she thought that everyone lived the same way that she did. If a person feels like the reason that they receive these things is be cause they deserve them; that shows that is a characteristic of a brat. A brat thinks that they are the greatest gift to earth and nothing else matters as much as they do. Davis may have gotten things, but that doesn’t necessarily make her into a brat. Brattiness can continue on longer than in childhood if it is not stopped earlier. There are some people who continue to be brats, even into their college years.Students in college may be seen as spoiled or brats if they don’t have to work or they go home every weekend to have things like groceries bought or laundry done for them. I think this is overgeneralizing some of the habits that these students may do. I can see how this can look like they are just being lazy from the outside, but it could be that it is a way to save money by washing clothes together. This is especially true for people who live near campus. I was an example of people that did that. Since I had to go home every weekend at my college summer classes, I did not do laundry at school.Instead I would take it home and get it washed with everyone else’s, in an effort to save money. Any way that I could think of to save money was a plus, not just for me, but for my grandmother as well. My grandmother, who I lived with thought it was a good idea. It was cheaper for her to wash all of the clothes together, instead of having to half loads of clothing. I think that the whole idea of spoiled children being brats can sometimes lead to a lot of overgeneralization. This especially applies to people who may have more money than others. We assume that if someone has expensive things that they will be brats.I have seen a lot of rich people that can be very humble and a lot of people who don’t have as much money be as bratty as can be. A good example is a close friend of mine, Whittney Williamson. Whittney is rich. I think rich is even an understatement. She doesn’t even know how much money she has. Her father owns oil fields in Oklahoma and Texas. He also sells machinery. Whittney seems like she would get everything in the world, but that isn’t the case. I think Whittney was humble and very misunderstood. Because, she came to school in Camaros and Corvettes, other students assumed that she was going to be brat.I worked with her in Student Council, a club that makes decisions for the school and does community service, for three years. I have seen, just by working with her how hard she works. She is constantly being taught things from her father that will make her into a well off college student. She explained that she had to do the same things as most other normal kids and that she got this philosophy from her father who did not start out as an oil tycoon, but worked his way up. I have also seen a counter example in a people that may not be rich, but they were brats.I was in program called Upward Bound, while I was in high school. Upward Bound was created for at-risk teens that may not have come f rom the wealthiest of homes and they are usually first-generation college students. While I was in Upward Bound it was common to see people with nice things, but they had worked for them. They wore expensive clothes; they had all kinds of expensive technology like MacBook’s and iPads. A lot of them worked too and they would off-set the cost of a lot of their things. There were some that didn’t; that acted like they deserved to have things given to them just for being present.In Upward Bound they would help us by giving us checks for our mileage and gifts all of the time. There were some people who were just ungrateful for what they were given. To be ungrateful for something a person is given is a bad quality of a person in general. It is just another one of those factors that make someone into a brat instead of a spoiled child. A spoiled child can be guided toward becoming a brat depending on external influences. Family and peers can either facilitate a person’s brattiness or discourage it. Maria Yagoda, editorial assistant at saveur. om, explained how she was stopped from being a brat: Part of my avoidance of â€Å"brat† status, I believe, comes from having attended public schools, where I learned alongside a socially and economically diverse group of students. My parents also preached to me the importance of social activism and political involvement: dragging me to rallies, encouraging me to volunteer and constantly reminding me how fortunate I was to grow up where I did. (Yagoda) If a person has experiences the outside world and learns about people and situations that are out of their comfort zone, they are less likely to be a brat.Like Yagoda mentioned, being in public school made her have to learn about different people. In most public schools there are a variety of people. Yagoda also said that her parents encouraged her to get involved. A parent has a lot of influence on how their child acts. If they allow different behaviors to occur, they are more likely to increase. Davis admits that her father grew up in a â€Å"struggling household† and that is what made him look outside of her privileged world. As people begin to become more independent they tend to act less like a brat.Something that helps is when parents teach their teenagers, especially right before college, more domestic skills. Yagoda mentioned that she had the pink laundry load. When teens a taught things like how to do laundry and how to do things like sweeping, or taking care of their own money while at home, they benefit later in life. They have things that they don’t have to. They won’t have to call mom or dad to help because a load of laundry turned pink or they didn’t realize that they used up all of their money in their checking account. Being spoiled is not a bad thing.A spoiled child, or even young adult, may get what they want, but that doesn’t make them into a brat. The behaviors that they show a fterwards are what make them into a brat. A person can be spoiled all of their life, but if they learn to receive things and be thankful; they will be seen in a completely different light. If a person learns to not rely solely on receiving things but, striving out to get things done themselves and setting their own goals, they can be seen as not brats, or even spoiled children. They will be seen as good person in general.There are plenty of external factors that can make someone into a brat, but the ultimate thing that stops a spoiled child from turning into a brat is themselves. There is only so much that parents and peers can do that can affect a person’s personality. The deciding factor is how a person chooses to behave and how a person chooses to be in life. Works Cited Davis, Lacee. â€Å"Yes, I’m Spoiled† 15 Oct, 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012 Yagoda, Maria. â€Å"†I'm Spoiled, But I'm Not a Brat†Ã¢â‚¬  Motherlode Blog. The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.

Collective Behavior And Stigmergy Of Cancer Cells

University of Warwick Erasmus Mundus MSc in Complex Systems Science M1 project report Collective behaviour and stigmergy in populations of cancer cells Author: Supervisors: Jacopo Credi Prof. Jean-Baptiste Cazier Dr. Sabine Hauert Dr. Anne Straube June 18, 2015 Abstract Investigating and capturing the emergence of collective phenomena in cancer cell migration can advance our understanding of the process of tissue invasion, which is one of the first steps leading to the formation of metastases, or secondary tumours. By reconstructing the trajectories of lung cancer cells populations from microscopy image sequences, we were able to analyse their collective two-dimensional dynamics and measure the system spatial correlation function in different density conditions. This revealed that cancer cells, similarly to other recently studied biological systems, can exhibit a form of collective dynamics without global order. However, the observed density dependence of the correlation function differed completely from the theoretical predictions of standard models of moving particles with mechanisms of local alignment. We propose an explanation for this unexpected finding, supported by an analysis of the role of density in the ability of cells to communicate thro ugh the micro-environment (stigmergy), which revealed the emergence of a network-like structure of trails when the system density was sufficiently low. 1 Introduction modelling, driven by the massive amount of data produced in